1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a two-way soft closing device and a soft closing activation trigger assembly of the two-way soft closing device and, more particularly, to a two-way soft closing device for a sliding door that absorbs a collision incurred between a sliding door panel and a doorframe during a door-opening or a door-closing action. The two-way soft closing device eliminates noise coming from a door panel collision and prevents fingers of elders or children from being trapped or prevents accidents caused by a sliding door edge coming to a direct collision without any reduction of speed. The soft closing activation trigger assembly that is easily adjusted eliminates a door panel closing gap as well as allows users to adjust the closing distance according to their door opening and closing requirements. Furthermore, the present invention eliminates a malfunction that results from the soft closing activation trigger assembly becoming broken or loosened by colliding with the triggers at a high speed. Then, the present invention avoids the soft closing activation trigger assembly skidding with the sliding door, and prevents users from accidents caused by the door panel in a high speed sliding.
2. Description of the Related Art
A sliding door is usually mounted in an exit of a building or used for an internal building partitioning. The sliding door moves laterally along a sliding door track to open or to close an internal partitioning opening. The sliding door track has a soft closing device and a soft closing activation trigger. The length of the sliding door track is fitted in proportion to the width of the partitioning opening. The sliding door track is an elongated member and mounted in a top end of the opening. The soft closing device is mounted within the sliding door track. The sliding door is connected to the soft closing device. When a user pushes or pulls the sliding door to move towards a door-opening position or a door-closing position, the soft closing device moderates a moving speed of the sliding door with a soft closing cylinder which is activated by the soft closing activation trigger. Therefore, the soft closing device prevents the sliding door from moving too fast. The siding door in motion may cause the door panel to collide with a doorframe, which causes a collision noise, panels shattering and accidents. The sliding door at high speed may collide with elders or children.
However, a conventional soft closing device emphasizes a single-sided soft closing function to prevent one side of the door panel from colliding to the doorframe directly. Mounted in the interior ceiling or wall, the conventional soft closing device is affected by the perpendicular alignment of the interior ceiling. The non-perpendicular alignment of the ceiling or wall makes the sliding door track to be mounted improperly. The improper mounting of the sliding door track causes abrasions between the track and wheels, and makes a difficult maneuvering of the door panel. As mentioned above, the inconsistency in the construction site will increase the resilience of the soft-closing spring. The soft-closing spring maneuvers the door panel back to a pre-set closing position. The increasing resilience of the soft-closing spring causes a gap formed between the door panel and the wall. The soft closing device is usually disposed to the door-closing direction to cushion the door panel. The soft closing device maneuvers the door panel to move towards the closing position. Furthermore, since the conventional soft closing devices cannot adjust a latching range that is a distance between the locations of the trigger and the doorframe, the conventional soft closing device does not allow users or interior designers to adjust the soft closing distance as their requirements. The latching range affects whether the door panel closes in the doorframe. Besides, the interior designer adjusts the location of the sliding door panel, which makes the edge of the sliding door panel to outstand from a fixed doorframe. The user could easily grasp the sliding door panel to close. Furthermore, when the user pulls the door panel to open the sliding door, the soft closing activation trigger stretches a spring that is mounted in the soft closing device. Usually, the user has to exert a heavy effort to overcome a resilience of the spring to move the door panel. If the user exerts an excessive force, the door panel would directly hit the doorframe at a high speed, which results in a colliding noise and which damages the soft closing device, the door panel, and the doorframe. If the force exerted from the user is excessively small, the door panel would not be moved or would not trigger any soft closing action.
For solving the above-mentioned problems, a manufacturer could assemble two units of single-sided soft closing devices that have the same structures and in opposite mounting directions in the sliding door. One of the single-sided soft closing devices is mounted in the door-closing direction. The other single-sided soft closing device is mounted in a door-opening direction. However, assembling the two single-sided soft closing devices increases installing time and complexity of installation as well as production cost. Thus, selecting and using two single-sided soft closing devices creates a major hassle for end users.
When the conventional sliding door is closed, a gap is formed between the door plate and the doorframe. Since a conventional trigger has a pre-set fixed travelling distance and a triggering distance on the soft closing device, the gap cannot be eliminated. Therefore, even when the user considers a door panel is variable size and weight, and once the door panel is mounted in an installation site of a doorframe, the gap is formed due to the door panel structural tolerances, doorframe tolerances, construction site inconsistencies and imperfectness of site conditions. The gap causes trouble and malfunction on the use of the sliding door.
Another conventional trigger is mounted in a rib of the sliding door track with two mounting plates. The mounting plates abut a top surface and a bottom surface of the rib respectively. The mounting plates are connected with a bolt. When the user adjusts a location of the trigger relative to the sliding door track, the bolt is loosened to move the mounting plates. However, the loosening degree of the bolt is not easy to control. The bolt may be removed from one mounting plate that abuts the top surface of the rib, and, then, the other mounting plate that abuts the bottom surface of the rib would drop and hit the user.
When the soft closing device of the conventional sliding door needs to be repaired, the whole sliding door track must be removed along with the soft closing device to repair or to replace components. Nevertheless, the length of the sliding door track is over 2 meters, so detaching or mounting the sliding door track is not easy. The repair of the soft closing device increases a working time and repairing cost for the end user. Also, repairing of the soft closing device further damages the interior decoration of the building.